Reclaim the Night is an annual rally and march asserting women’s right to freedom from violence, rape or fear — however we dress, wherever we go.

If you are interested in women’s rights, come out and show your support!

State Library Rally – Gather at 6.30pm for a 7pm start (all welcome!)

With Guest Speakers/Performers:

Sally Goldner – from being a spokesperson for TransGender Victoria and the treasurer of the Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, to hosting the 3CR radio program “Out of the Pan” (focused on pansexual issues), Sally is a leading activist within the Victorian LGBTI community who will speak on the issue of gender based violence as it relates to queer and trans people’s lives.

Sahar & Mim – both inspiring survivors and speakers (and singers!!) on family violence. They will speak on the impacts of violence against women and why we need a better community response.

Tricia – an incredible woman from Women with Disabilities Victoria who will speak on the types of violence that occurs against women with disabilities.

Note: While the March is for people who identify and/or were socialised as wom*n (including those who identify as trans, genderqueer, sex &/or gender diverse), gender-policing is not acceptable. That means not making assumptions about people’s gender based on their self presentation, or any other factor. It is not up to anyone to decide and dictate to other people whether or not they can join in the March, it is up to individuals to decide whether to participate or self-exclude depending on how they identify.

While all violence should be opposed, this particular event is focused on those who experience gender-based violence, which includes both cis and trans wom*n, as well as other ISGD (Intersex, Sex &/or Gender Diverse) people.

Recognizing this and striving to make Reclaim the Night a safer space for everybody means avoiding gender-policing, transphobia, queerphobia, sexism, racism, whorephobia, ableism, classism, or any other type of oppression.

ii. Mooncup/Radpad giveaway + workshop
We are planning to have a rad pad/mooncup giveaway, as well as a DIY radpad workshop in a couple weeks (keep an eye out for more details soon)!
In the meantime, apart from awesome giveaways we hope this event will also be an opportunity to put out some info about menstruation products that are better for the environment and your health!…so if anyone wants to write a bit about this (e.g. why you love your mooncup/radpads, why non-reusable tampons & pads are bad for the environment etc.) please email your interest/ideas/submissions to womyns@union.unimelb.edu.au.

iii. Final Zine
We’d love to put together a final zine for the year but to make that happen we need YOU to contribute! One theme we thought of was “Why I am a Feminist” – it’d be great if we could get lots of different people sending in stuff (writing, art, poetry etc.) addressing that question.
Since it is the end of the year, another idea is for people to send in stuff reflecting (perhaps with fond nostalgia?!) on what the Wom*n’s Department has done throughout the year, what you’ve learned etc.
Really whatever you come up with – be creative!
As above, ideas/submissions can be emailed to womyns@union.unimelb.edu.au and also dropped into the Wom*n’s Department’s mailbox (in the OB space, 1st Floor Union House)

iv. Other plans for the rest of the semester
Apart from the above, our major final plans for the rest of the semester include holding self-defense classes and a big end of year bbq/picnic (hopefully tied in with a joint soccer game with the Queer Department!)

And then of course there’s our weekly events – Feminist Discussion Group (Every Mon at 12pm in the Wom*n’s Room, 1st Floor Union House across from the food co-op), Wom*n’s Action Collective (Every Mon at 1pm in the Wom*n’s Room – come along if you wanna help organize all this stuff we’ve got going on!), and Girlzone (Hangout for queer/questioning Wom*n, every Thurs at 1pm in the Wom*n’s Room)

Can’t believe the semester/year is almost over! Lets go out with a bang! xo

Acknowledgement

This website was created on Wurundjeri land. We respectfully acknowledge the traditional owners of the stolen lands and waters of this area. We also acknowledge that those of us who live, study, and work here and are not indigenous are thus beneficiaries of the dispossession of Aboriginal people.